


Summer of our Discontent

by celestialserendipity



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Mia Healey if you ever see this ily, There is no plane crash, Toni’s POV, this is my first work so idk what I’m doing, toni’s kind of an asshole at first but we love her
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:47:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29468949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialserendipity/pseuds/celestialserendipity
Summary: AU- Instead of Gretchen’s Lord-of-the-Flies type scheme, the Dawn of Eve is an actual 3-week female empowerment retreat in Hawaii._________________________________________The bubbly girl, whose name Toni couldn’t remember, walked to the front of the plane, and began to speak once she had grabbed everyone’s attention.“Congratulations! You’ve passed your first bonding test here at Dawn of Eve! You’ve all demonstrated your abilities to work with each other in an unexpected event, and you’re on your way to making greater connections with your fellow women! Here at Dawn of Eve, we teach you to defy expectations that have been passed down to you by a patriarchal society, and we hope that by the time you leave, you will truly wait for no man.”________________________________________
Relationships: Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	1. One- Colonizers and Plane Crashes

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first time writing a fanfic, so I don’t really know what to expect, but I’ve been so obsessed with the Wilds that I had to write this. I thought it was a cool idea.
> 
> Give me feedback in the comments though- let me know what you’d like to see in this fanfic!
> 
> The title is from the song of the same name by Sugar Candy Mountain just fyi

Toni didn’t even know why she decided to go on this stupid trip.

As far as she could tell, it was just some ‘girl boss’ bs. She wished she hadn’t’ given into Martha when she had shown her the tickets. But then again, she loved Martha, and she owed her.

She looked around the plane. There were two girls that looked like sisters-maybe they were twins?

There was a girl with cargo pants as well. Thank the lord, at least she knew she’d probably get along with one other person on this trip. 

There was a bubbly girl with the ugliest haircut Toni had ever seen in her life, who was talking NONSTOP about her music history. Toni made a mental note to not get into a conversation with her. She didn’t give a single fuck about P!nk.

Then there was a girl cooped up in the very back of the plane, reading a book. She looked like she wouldn’t give Toni any trouble. Near her was a girl with dark skin who was busy painting her nails. Who paints their nails before going to a spa retreat? 

The last person on the plane, other than Martha, was the type of girl that Toni had been praying would not be on this trip. Perfectly manicured appearance, cross necklace, reading -of course- a Bible. The problem was, she wasn’t just reading the Bible, she was literally taking notes. With a goddamn highlighter and everything.  
What the hell. Toni made another mental note to avoid this girl at all costs. 

She turned back to Martha, trying to drone out the stupid welcome video. The woman droned on and on about ‘discovering their true potential’, which Toni knew was a bunch of bs. 

After 5 hellish minutes, the video stopped. Toni was relieved, and she was about to go to sleep when- oh shit- the Bible-bashing bitch was dragging her away from Martha. Something about an icebreaker. God, she hated white girls.

Actually, the girl she sat next to wasn’t that bad. Fatin was kind of funny, which she hadn’t been expecting. She hated to admit it, but she was enjoying herself. 

But, like everything in Toni’s life, all good things had to come to an end.

In this case, the end was when the fucking plane started to crash.

She had only lived 17 miserable years, and yet she was about to die.

Life was such a joke.

However, for the moment, she was alive. So, Toni spent her possible last seconds on Earth with the only person who really cared about her- Martha.

She cursed whatever God was up there right now as she held onto Martha. 

If she was going to hell, she hoped that Martha at least would go to heaven. That would be her last wish.

Toni Shalifoe closed her eyes and braced for impact.

Only, there was no impact. 

The lights in the plane cabin flickered back on.

Toni was alive.

Martha was alive.

She was hugging Martha.

They were in the plane.

The plane was in the air.

The plane had not crashed.

What the hell?

As she climbed off of Martha and tried to make sense of what happened, she noticed movement in the back of the plane.

The bubbly girl, whose name Toni couldn’t remember, walked to the front of the plane, and began to speak once she had grabbed everyone’s attention. 

“Congratulations! You’ve passed your first bonding test here at Dawn of Eve! You’ve all demonstrated your abilities to work with each other in an unexpected event, and you’re on your way to making greater connections with your fellow women! Here at Dawn of Eve, we teach you to defy expectations that have been passed down to you by a patriarchal society, and we hope that by the time you leave, you will truly wait for no man.”

Toni, for one, was furious. 

This stupid retreat had made her say her dying vows, just for a ‘bonding experience’?

The old Toni would have gotten up and strangled the girl, who she now knew was Jeanette. God, what a stupid name.

But, she had promised Martha she would try to control her actions, so she just stayed in her seat, rolled her eyes, and fantasized about jumping out of the plane.

Goddamn. This was going to be a long 3 weeks.


	2. Two- Two Truths and a Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the last chapter literally sucked because it was mainly just Toni’s inner monologue, and just set the scene for the rest of the story.
> 
> Now we’re getting into the actual story, so it will probably be a bit more fun to read.

About an hour after the fake plane emergency, the plane lands on a small island. There’s a mountain on the left side of the island surrounded by a lush jungle, and a couple miles of pristine beaches. It’s probably the most beautiful place Toni’s ever been.

Which, honestly, isn’t saying much, because she’s lived in Minnesota her whole life, but whatever.

The girls aren’t conversing with each other as they had been before, probably because they’re in shock from the whole experience. The whir of the plane engines is still ringing in Toni’s ears as they touch down on land. She reminds herself to stay calm. She’s had her fair share of panic attacks, and she’s not about to have one now, in front of everyone. She closes her eyes and focuses on her breathing pattern.

The plane doors open and everyone climbs the stairs down onto the small runway. Jeanette hands them each a small pink journal with the Dawn of Eve logo engraved into it as they pass her, as well as an itinerary. Toni doesn’t know what the hell they’ll need a journal for, so she looks at the itinerary instead.

There’s not much on the schedule for today, as it’s getting late. Tomorrow they have breakfast at 9, followed by a couple teamwork exercises and a spa visit. 

“Toni, we’re literally in paradise. I’m so excited!” Martha joins her, and they through the rest of the itinerary. Martha is a lot more excited than she is for some of the activities, which is expected, because Martha’s excited about literally anything. You could tell her that the next activity was picking up trash and she’d be happy about saving the environment.

Toni smiles. As mad as she is about what just happened, she’s happy that she’s here with Martha, and not at home with her foster family. She’s much rather be doing face masks in Hawaii, even with Bible freaks, than be in Minnesota in the broken-down trailer with all her little asshole foster siblings. 

“Okay girls!” Jeanette leads the group to where they’ll be sleeping. It’s a tiki-style hut, which is a little cliche, but it’s really nice inside. Their bags are already inside, and Toni takes a bed near the back of the hut, next to Martha and one of the twins, Rachel, who seems a little intense. All of her stuff is folded neatly and it looks like she planned out her packing arrangements for weeks, which is like, the complete opposite of Toni. Oh well.

Toni unpacks rather quickly, cause she doesn’t have many clothes anyways. She actually packed for this trip in 20 minutes. It wasn’t hard- she’d thrown a bottle of vodka into her bag, all of her clothes, a pair of flip-flops she stole from a previous foster family, and her phone, and then walked to Martha’s house, because her car was broken again. She’d been meaning to get it fixed, but she didn’t have the effort to after her breakup with Regan.

Jeanette announces that they’re serving dinner soon, and the girls head out of the hut onto a trail to reach the dining area. It’s absolutely gorgeous, right on the water, with chairs and tables around a fire pit. They’re on a pristine beach, and the sun is setting. It’s stunning. 

Toni gets her meal, and actually ends up sitting next to Fatin. She was going to sit next to Martha, but Martha was already sitting next to Miss I-do-Jesus-I-do-pageants, and Toni was not about to interact with her.

“So are you two a thing?” Fatin asks, gesturing between Toni and Martha.

“Oh god no. She’s basically my sister.” Toni laughs.

“That’s a shame, because that would have been the only action on this island. They could have at least provided us with some hot guys to fuck. Closest thing we have to that is this guy.” Fatin gestures to a tiki figure embedded in the sand. 

“I really wonder what we’re going to do for 3 weeks. I mean, I barely made it through the icebreaker on the plane. Can’t imagine doing those for almost a month.” 

“Well, if you look on the itinerary, you’d know that on Friday we’re going.... bird watching.” 

“Oh god.” Fatin stares at Toni with a ‘kill-me-now’ look on her face. “So, how did you stumble among this amazing opportunity to ‘relieve yourself from the grips of the patriarchy’?”

“Martha’s mom. She wanted to give Martha a break after....uh....a bad situation, and Martha asked to bring me. What about you? You look like you didn’t have to worry much about the finances of this trip.” Toni regrets that last sentence as soon as it comes out. “Sorry. Didn’t mean it that way. You just look expensive.”

Fatin seems unbothered. “It’s fine. My parents decided I needed a bit of a break, so they sent me here. I didn’t realize that by agreeing to come I was taking a vow of celibacy, because if I had known, then I probably wouldn’t have gotten on that plane.”

Toni’s about to say something back, when a southern accent summons her attention. Uh oh.

“Alright y’all, why don’t we do another icebreaker, since the one on the plane got a bit cut off.” The Bible girl, whose name is apparently Shelby, smiles so wide it looks unnatural as she glances at the group of girls.

Everyone else agrees, so Toni figures she has to. She reluctantly moves into the circle around the fire pit, trailing Fatin.

“Okay, so why don’t we do two truths and a lie. Umm....you!” Shelby gestures at Toni. “Why don’t you go first!”

“It’s Toni.” She mumbles as Shelby grabs her arm and hauls her up in front of the group. Her nails -no, CLAWS- dig into Toni’s skin and, god, of course she would be chosen first. She hates this.

She decides she’s not going to play into this stupid game, so she doesn’t talk. Everyone waits for an uncomfortably long period of time for Toni to speak, but still, she doesn’t. Her first foster mom told her that if she could describe her in one word, it would be stubborn. And not in a good way. Still, she finds ways to use her stubbornness to her advantage.

“Okay Toni, you can go now.” Shelby seems a bit pissed now, even though she’s still smiling.

Toni isn’t going to give in so easily, but Martha gives her a look, so she does.

“Okay, um...... one, I play basketball, two, I have a dog, and three, I’ve thrown my own piss at someone.”

Everyone stares at Toni. Fatin and a girl named Dot, the one with the cargo pants, start laughing, and Martha rolls her eyes at Toni, but she can tell she’s not mad. Leah, Rachel, and Nora look amused, and Toni’s proud of herself for coming up with that one.

On the other hand, Shelby looks horrified. It’s the best thing that’s happened to Toni so far. Unfortunately, she regains her composure in a second and asks if anyone can tell what Toni’s lie is.

“I really hope it’s the last one.” Dot answers while laughing.

Toni smirks. “Nope.”

“Then it’s the first one. You’re like 5’2, there’s no way you play basketball.” Rachel answers.

Toni jokingly flips her off. “Nope. I win.” She sits back down next to Fatin, who seems very amused. 

“Damn, that’s one way to get out of an icebreaker. Alright, I’ll go next. Get it over with.”

The game continues, and then it’s Shelby’s turn.

“Okay, one, I’ve won 23 pageants, two, I have 3 siblings, and 3, I’m saving myself for marriage.”

Toni is the first to answer. “I mean, it’s gotta be one, right? I can’t see you winning a pageant unless it’s out of pity.”

A collective ‘oh shit’ passes though the group. 

Toni goes on. “I mean, really. If you actually did pageants, you would have to have a talent, right? And as far as I can tell, the only thing you know how to do is recite Bible verses.”

Everyone is shocked, but also laughing, and Toni takes that as her cue to continue.

“Which, for the record, I can do too. My favorite verse is actually John 36:5- ‘Thou shall get a very bad spray tan and awful highlights before embarking on a journey.”

Fatin’s almost on the floor laughing her ass off as Shelby gives Toni a death stare. She looks a bit hurt, and Toni feels bad for a second, but then she remembers that Shelby’s a Jesus freak, and probably homophobic, and she doesn’t feel bad anymore.

Everyone’s lost interest in the game by now, so by the time the laughs subside, people are standing up and beginning to walk back to the hut.

Martha joins Toni as they walk back. “You know, you don’t always have to be so rude. That was kind of out of pocket. You don’t even know her. Shelby’s actually kind of nice.”

Toni scoffs at that. “Please, Marty. I know girls like her. She’s probably just being nice to you so she can say she saved a little Rez girl on her college essay.”

Martha seems annoyed. “Just try to be a bit nicer, please. We’re here for 3 weeks, you can’t make an enemy on the first day.”

“Watch me.”

Toni climbs the steps up to the hut and disappears inside.

________________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, tell me what you’d like to see in this story! Comments are always appreciated! I’ll try to update pretty often.
> 
> Today’s song recommendations are Dreams Via Memories by Ceramic Animal and Apricots by MAY-A!
> 
> Hope everyone had a good Valentine’s Day!


	3. Three- Trust and Falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y’all, I have so much respect for fanfic writers now, because writing is so much harder than I thought it would be. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

The plane was going down again, except this time she couldn’t get to Martha. The plane was fully tilted down towards the ocean. The lights flickered and then went out. Everyone was screaming.

The plane rattled as it approached the water. Screams echoed around as the plane plunged into the water. Toni braced for impact as...

She woke up startled. She frantically looked around to get her bearings. She was not in a plane, she was in the hut. It was still dark out, and there was a loud whirring noise coming from somewhere. 1...2....3.....4.... she counted her breaths until she felt okay to get up. 

She hauled herself out of bed quietly, because everyone else looked to be asleep. Tiptoeing around Rachel and Martha’s beds, she made her way to the bathrooms, and the whirring noise got louder. Goddamn it. It had to be like 4 in the morning. She needed water, her throat was dry from hyperventilating. What the hell was that noise?

Toni flung open the bathroom door to find the only person on this island she did NOT want to see, blow-drying her blonde hair.

“Goddamn, Shelby. What time is it?”

Shelby turned around, startled. She didn’t smile when she saw Toni, which was new. Toni literally hadn’t seen her do anything but smile the first day. “Sorry. I was trying to be quiet, but this thing is really loud.” She motioned to the hair dryer. “And it’s...” she said, checking her watch, “5:45.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“What? Not everyone is as lazy as you. Some of us like to get up early so we can actually look presentable.” Apparently her teasing last night had gotten to Shelby a bit.

“Yikes. No need to be rude.” Toni smiled mockingly and pushed her way past Shelby. “If you excuse me, I need to take a piss.”

“Just don’t fucking throw it at me.” 

“You say your prayers with that mouth? Jesus probably doesn’t like that very much.”

Shelby didn’t reply.

When Toni came out of the bathroom, she was gone. Good, she thought to herself. It’s too early to deal with that bitch.

Toni left the bathroom after grabbing a quick drink to ease the pain in her dry throat, and made her way back to bed. She did sneak a quick glance over at Shelby’s bed, which was empty. Oh well. Toni didn’t really care where Shelby was. She closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep. She couldn’t fall asleep, though, so she spent the next 3 hours staring up at the ceiling, thinking of all the possible ways Shelby could have left the hut and died in the forest so she would never have to see her again.

At around 8, the sun started to rise, and the rest of the girls started to wake up. Toni watched everyone. Fatin was applying what seemed to be 10 pounds of makeup, Leah was brushing her teeth for what seemed like a half an hour, Nora was writing in the complementary journal that everyone had been given. Dot was smoking.

Toni made her way over to Dot, who generously offered her the blunt. “You’re lucky I don’t make you pay.”

“Thanks.” Toni inhaled deeply. She needed this if she was going to have any more interaction with the pageant girl today. She suspected she would, because there were multiple team-building activities on the itinerary for today. Fuck.

As it turns out, she did see Shelby again, 5 minutes later, at breakfast. She had already helped herself to food, and was making- get this- a fucking açaí bowl.

“Couldn’t you have just had the pancakes?”

Shelby glared at her, then quickly stopped when she saw the other girls trailing Toni. “I don’t like pancakes,” she responded, and proceeded to greet Martha with such enthusiasm that Toni wanted to throw up her nonexistent breakfast. 

Toni decided to sit next to Nora, because, once again, Martha and Shelby were deep in conversation. “What are you writing?”

Nora lifted her head up and showed her the journal. “I was drawing, actually. It’s just a doodle of my sister. I’ve made it a goal of mine to draw everyone here.”

Toni studied the drawing. Rachel was pictured at the top of a diving board, poised, ready to jump at any moment. “It’s really good, actually. You don’t have to draw me, though.”

“It’s no problem. I like drawing people. I feel like it gives me a deeper understanding of who they really are, rather than who they portray themselves to be.”

Toni thought about it for a second. “Okay, you can draw me. I’m curious. What do you think...”

“Alright ladies, wrap it up!” Jeanette interrupted their conversation by announcing that their first team building exercise would be beginning in 15 minutes. The girls lazily finished eating and waited for the challenge.

“For this activity, you will all be paired up. Although it may sound stupid, we’re going to be doing trust falls. The itinerary has changed a bit, so we’re doing this activity to prepare you for the mountain hike this afternoon. I’ll let you know who you’re paired up with, and no complaints about your partners! We’re here to strengthen our female bonds, no matter if we like each other or not!” 

Toni strolled up to Jeanette. “Let me see...okay! You’re with Shelby.”

Oh my god. 

The universe must be playing a big joke on her today, and she wanted to scream back into the abyss that it was not a fucking funny one.

Oh my god.

“You shouldn’t say that, you know.”

“What?” Toni was more than a little pissed off.

“You said ‘oh my god’? That’s using the lord’s name in vain.” Shelby replied.

“The lord can suck my dick.”

Shelby looked absolutely repulsed. Good.

Jeanette showed each of the groups the paths to the places that they would be doing the trust-fall exercise. “Just keep walking until you reach the clearing!” 

The two girls walked on a narrow path through the jungle, and neither girl spoke a word, which was perfect for Toni. The only thing that would be more perfect is if she had scissors to cut off the obnoxious blonde ponytail that was swinging in front of her. She imagined it. Snip, snip, snip....

“God, will you say something? It’s creepy out here.” Shelby asked.

“No.”

“How are we supposed to do trust falls if we don’t talk?”

“We’re not. For one, I don’t trust you.” Toni angrily mumbled.

“Why don’t you trust me? I’ve been nothing but nice to you? You’re the one that’s intolerable to be around.”

“I don’t trust you because I know you hate me. Is that a good enough answer for you, miss Texas?” Toni didn’t want to keep talking. She felt herself losing brain cells by the minute.

“Why would I hate you?”

“Because I’m gay, Shelby. And people like you are usually the ones that will tell me to burn in hell. I’ve had my fair share of homophobes, and you give off that same energy. So no, I don’t trust you. Like, at all.”

Shelby didn’t say anything for a long time. Goddamn it. She was homophobic. She hadn’t tried to deny anything. 

They kept walking in silence for a while. Toni contemplated talking about gay stuff to make Shelby uncomfortable, but she decided against it because she didn’t want her to go full Bible basher on her. 

“Toni?”

“What the hell do you want?” God, she was so over this.

“Stop stepping on my feet.”

Toni responded by doing the only obvious thing to do, which was kicking the back of Shelby’s ankle as hard as she possibly could. Unfortunately, as things tend to go when Toni’s anger is involved, things went south. Quickly.

Toni’s foot, instead of kicking the back of Shelby’s leg, landed in front of it, sending Shelby flying through the air. She landed, head first, on either a rock or a log, Toni couldn’t tell. Shit, she thought. “Shelby?” Shelby didn’t respond, she just laid there, limp, on the ground. “Are you fucking with me right now? Are you okay?”

Toni knelt by the log and tried to get Shelby to respond. “Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t’ mean to-“

Shelby found the strength to move and face Toni. She looked a little off, as if her eyes weren’t focusing right. Toni extended a hand and tried to help her up, but all she earned was a “get away from me” from Shelby, which was fair, given that she’d been in the wrong.

Shelby got up and started off again on the path, like nothing had happened. But then, oh shit. Her legs buckled, and she knelt by the side of the godforsaken path and threw up every last bit of the açaí bowl she had made for breakfast. Oh my god. Toni looked away, trying to keep it together. She hated vomiting, and she didn’t know why she was still trying to help her as she put a hand on Shelby’s back.

The thing is, she didn’t really care about Shelby. At all. Hell, she would have been overjoyed if she fell off of a cliff and never came back. But, she did feel really bad for what she did, so she tried to help again. She knew that Shelby hitting her head was serious. She’d gotten concussions before, so she knew all the warning signs. “Shelby, are you dizzy at all?” she asked slowly, trying not to get too close to the vomit.

Shelby stared up at her with a dazed look. “A bit.”

That was her cue: almost as if she was possessed by some kind of nurse, Toni helped Shelby to her feet and helped her back along the path. She was surprised Shelby didn’t object, but then again, she was basically in a fog at this point. She picked Shelby up and started to carry her. God, what had she done? She didn’t mean for it to end up like this. What if Shelby had a brain injury? Or, what if her skull had been fractured? She could have hours left to live, or even-

God, pull it together, Toni. She reprimanded herself internally as she reminded herself that she needed to stay focused and bring Shelby to the medical center. She couldn’t let her mind run away too much right now.

It only took about 10 more minutes of walking to reach the medical center, and then Toni was panicking, shouting at the nurse that Shelby had fallen and she’d hit her head and thrown up and she wasn’t sure if she was conscious and she had tried to carry her back and-

“It’s okay, Toni. Accidents happen. Would you like to go join another group to participate in the team-building exercise?” The doctor, Doctor Faber, looked a bit too calm for the situation at hand. Toni was very suspicious.

“No, it’s okay, I’ll stay and wait to make sure she’s okay.” Toni didn’t know why she wanted to wait for Shelby, of all people. Guilt, she reminded herself. It was guilt. Shelby was homophobic, and she hated her, she just felt bad that she had hurt her, that’s all. It was just guilt that made her stay.

Not Shelby’s face as she lay in her arms.

Not the way her face lit up when Fatin had complemented her outfit this morning.

Not her smile, the real one, not the pageant one, when she was talking to Martha.

Guilt.

Yep. Guilt. Mhm.

Fuck.

________________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today’s song recommendations:
> 
> Orpheus Under the Influence by the Buttertones and Gutter Girl by Hot Flash Heat Wave
> 
> Hope everyone’s having a good day!


	4. Four- Never Have I Ever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Here’s today’s chapter! Hopefully things should start picking up soon, because I finally have somewhat of an idea about where this story is going.

As it turns out, Toni didn’t have to wait that long for Shelby, who came out of the medical center an hour later. She clearly wasn’t expecting Toni to wait for her, as she looked startled to see her laying on the steps. “What are you doing?” 

“Just waiting. I feel really bad, and I’m really sorry that-“

“It’s okay.”

“No, really, I am sorry, I was kind of a bitch earlier and-“ Toni started to ramble a bit. She hoped she didn’t sound too desperate. The last thing she wanted was to sound like she wanted to be friends with Shelby. God, that would probably be hell on-

“I said it’s okay.”

And with that, Shelby brushed past Toni and headed off in the direction of the hut. Damn. She hadn’t even gotten to give her a sincere apology, or ask her how she was doing. Oh well. Her loss.

She checked her watch, and, oh no, it was almost time for that stupid mountain hike that Jeanette had mentioned this morning. Hiking was probably the last thing on earth that she wanted to do right now. Actually, scratch that- second last. The last would be spending another activity with Shelby, who was now apparently trying to avoid her. Toni didn’t blame her, to be honest. Actually, these last couple hours with Shelby gone had been the most peaceful ones that she’d spent on the island so far. 

It took a bit of time, but eventually the other groups started arriving back from the trust fall exercise. It looked like it hadn’t gone very well for some of the groups, especially Rachel and Fatin. They were both covered in mud, and Fatin was obsessively trying to get the dirt off of her acrylics. Rachel looked like she was about to kill herself, and maybe Fatin as well.

The only group that looked like they had been remotely successful was Dot and Nora. Toni kind of hoped she would be paired up with one of them for the next activity- they both seemed pretty trustworthy and down-to-earth, unlike Shelby. 

Who, speak of the devil, had still not returned to the beach area by the time Jeanette began leading them into the woods for the hike. Toni looked up at the clouds and thanked the universe for her absence, which had gone mostly unnoticed by the group, except for...

“Oh, Jeanette! We can’t start hiking yet, Shelby’s not here!” Martha seemed concerned. “I haven’t seen her in a while. Is she okay?”

“Oh, she’s resting. She had a bit of an accident earlier, and she won’t be joining us on the hike,” Jeanette replied reassuringly. “Well, it’s time for me to head off. I’ll be leaving you here, because part of the team-building aspect of this hike is navigating by yourselves! Be sure to stick close to the path please! Some of the rocks higher on the mountain aren’t safe to stand on. We don’t want any deaths today!” She laughed.

The girls did not. The group, especially Leah and Fatin, who was still picking at her nails, were just a bit pissed off that they had to find their way up the mountain without any help.

“Are you sure we should be going on this hike? I mean, if it isn’t safe, we should probably do something that isn’t as hazardous.” Leah asked. She was anxiously tearing at her nails as well, Toni noticed. Strange.

“Well, it wouldn’t be real team-building if you didn’t have to work with each other! It’ll be a bit of a challenge, but don’t worry, we’ll be monitoring you to make sure you don’t get too lost. Have fun!” With that, Jeanette disappeared into the woods, leaving the girls alone on the path. 

“Jesus, this sucks.” Rachel complained. “We hardly even survived this morning, and she didn’t even leave us a map or anything.”

“Um, excuse you! You’re the reason that we failed this morning, because you INSISTED we had to do the trust falls around a goddamn sinkhole! I’m going to have to get new nails, and these ones are really expensive!” Fatin yelled back at Rachel, an annoyed look on her face.

Nora interrupted. “If you guys don’t get over it, we’re going to get lost. Stay focused.”

Fatin glared at Rachel, but stopped complaining. The group trudged on for what seemed like hours, stopping every couple minutes to rest, and the forest eventually got slimmer as they climbed higher. “I think we’re approaching the dangerous part. Stick close to one another.” Nora took the lead, with the others trudging close behind.

After a few more minutes of wandering, they reached a dead end on the side of a cliff. “Okay, everyone take a break while we figure out where we are. Me and Dot will scout the surrounding area.” Leah announced. Dot complained about her knee hurting, but got up to follow Leah, who was already deep into the woods.

Toni was relieved for the break, and she laid down to stretch her legs on a rock. She was quickly joined by Fatin, who seemed far too interested in the absence of a certain Texan.

“So, what happened this morning. Did you like, murder Shelby or something?”

Toni rolled her eyes. “Uh, no. Not really. I mean- no. I wanted to, but no. She just kind of, uh, tripped and fell when we were walking in the woods, and uh, she landed on her head. She’s okay now though. I think.”

“Christ Toni, I don’t want to be the one to tell you this, but you’re a shit liar.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Cmon, Toni. I’m not gonna judge, I’m just curious to what went down.”

“I’m telling the truth! God, you’re insufferable!”

Fatin started at Toni, who was now fuming. “Are you an Aries?”

“Who the fuck cares?” And with that, Toni got up, face red with anger.

“I’m gonna take that as a yes.”

Dot and Leah returned from their expedition a couple minutes later, with absolutely no clue where they were or how they would get back to the main area of the island. “Anyone have any ideas?” Dot asked the group. “Cause if not, then we’re going to have to stay here until Jeanette decides to find us, which could be hours. And I don’t know about you guys, but I’m literally starving, and I don’t want to have to end up sacrificing anyone here for my own survival.”

“Let’s vote on it then.” Nora added. 

“On who we should sacrifice?”

“No, on our course of action. All in favor of staying here until Jeanette finds us, raise your hands.” Three hands went up- Fatin, Martha, and Dot. “Alright then, everyone get up. We’re just going to keep walking until we get somewhere.”

Toni had never been more tired in her life. Why hadn’t they been given water for the hike? This was surely some kind of scam. Why hadn’t they been rescued yet? What if-

Toni’s thoughts were interrupted by Martha, who joined her on the side of the trail. “Are you okay? You seem a little bothered.”

“I’m good, Marty. Just exhausted.”

“Me too. How late do you think it is?”

Toni thought for a minute. “I don’t know. Late enough for it to be suspicious that we haven’t been saved yet.”

“Holy shit. What was that?” Rachel’s voice was nervous. “I think I heard someone near those bushes!”

“Or someTHING.” Leah added.

“Everyone shut up!” Dot whispered. “Maybe they’re coming to help us! Stay behind me!”

The group turned the corner towards a small rustling noise, and found something that Toni definitely did not need on this hike.

“Shelby?”

Oh my god. Of course it was her.

Shelby emerged from the woods looking literally perfect. Her hair was straightened, she had a full face of makeup on, and she was wearing jeans and a crop top. To be fair, it wasn’t that bad of an outfit, and it looked kind of cute on her, but why the hell was she wearing it on a hike, and why the hell wasn’t she resting?

“Oh hi y’all! It was getting late, so Jeanette sent me up here to fetch y’all. How was the hike so far?”

The group, minus Toni let out a collective sigh, relieved that they weren’t lost. “Thank the lord you found us,” Fatin said. “We’ve been lost for a while now.”

Shelby flashed her that stupid fake pageant smile. “The lord works in mysterious ways. I’m glad He led me to you guys.”

Toni rolled her eyes and imagined pushing Shelby off the cliff that they had camped on. Maybe if she prayed hard enough, the lord would make that happen too.

She prayed the whole walk back to the sleeping hut, but unfortunately there were no more cliffs for Shelby to go flying off into the abyss. Damn it. Maybe next time. 

By the time the girls finally arrived back, it was almost dark. Everyone quickly grabbed food and spread out around the fire pit, as they had the previous night. Weirdly enough, Jeanette was nowhere to be seen. Maybe it was her night off, or she’d given up on trying to make them bond and flew back to California. Toni hoped it was the latter. Jeanette was annoying as fuck.

“Alright y’all, I know y’all are probably tired from your little hike, but why don’t we play a little game?” 

Toni let out an audible groan. Not again. But just like last night, the rest of the girls quickly agreed, and Toni had no choice but to join in with everyone else. She figured if they were going to play a game, it should at least be a fun one. “One second, I’ll be right back.”

Toni sprinted to the hut, opened her suitcase, and dragged out the bottle of vodka that she had packed for the trip. She had planned on getting wasted at a nighttime rager in a local Hawaiian village, but this would have to do for now.

“Okay, how about ‘Never Have I Ever?” She whipped the bottle out from behind her back and held it high enough for everyone to see. There were victorious shouts from the group, and the occasional ‘Thank God’ from Fatin as she walked to the center of the fire pit. 

“Okay. Rules are simple. If you’ve done it, you drink. Okay....let me think..... never have I ever had sexual intercourse.”

Fatin eagerly snatched the bottle while it was still on Toni’s lips. “I’ll take that!”

The only people that didn’t drink were Martha and Shelby. Martha gave Shelby a thankful look. “I thought I’d be the only one.”

“Nothing wrong with saving yourself for marriage.” Of course she was. Toni wanted to ask her if she was one of those girls who did anal because it was technically saving themselves for marriage, but after today’s events, she decided against it. She didn’t want the rest of the girls to think she was a complete asshole.

It was Leah’s turn. “Never have I ever... watched someone die.”

Dot and Toni both took a swig, eliciting sympathetic looks from the rest of the girls. “Foster dad. Heart attack. What about you?”

“My dad. He was sick. Shit happens.” Dot looked like she was holding back tears as Nora gave her a quick hug. 

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to make anyone feel bad with that one, it was just the first thing that popped into my head.” Leah passed the bottle to Martha as Dot and Toni reassured her that there were no hard feelings.

Martha thought for a moment. “Never have I ever... been cheated on.”

Fatin took a swig, and the bottle was grabbed by Shelby, who didn’t say a word as she took an unnecessarily long sip, and then shoved the bottle into the sand.

“Andrew?” Dot asked.

Shelby nodded.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why are you two still together? I mean, he’s cheated on you multiple times, he’s obviously not sorry.” 

Shelby reached for the vodka again and took another long drink. “It’s complicated.”

Dot decided not to further push the subject. However, as usual, Toni did.

“Wait, you’re still dating a guy who’s cheated on you multiple times? Why the hell would you do that? I mean, it’s not like you couldn’t get anyone else.” Shit. Toni didn’t mean the last part to come out like that. Oh no. She didn’t want Shelby to think that- never mind.

A pair of bright green eyes met hers from across the fire pit. “I said, it’s complicated. Wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Shelby froze, and her voice stuttered a bit. “I-I just mean, because, you’re, you know-“

“I’m what?”

Shelby was shaking a bit for some reason and Toni watched as she drank yet again. God, at this rate, she’d be completely wasted soon.

“Nevermind.”

“No, no. I want to know what you were going to say. Spit it out.”

Shelby stared at the sand, digging her nails into the side of her leg. The air was thick with tension, neither girl wishing to say anything else. Martha nudged her. “Drop it, Toni.”

“Fine. I’m done with this game, anyway.” 

The group stared, confused, as Toni got up and stormed off into the distance. She didn’t have the energy to deal with whatever game Shelby was trying to play tonight. 

As she made her way back into the hut, it occurred to her that Shelby still had her vodka. 

Goddamn it. She needed that right about now.

_______________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, song recs for today:
> 
> Mean Maybe by Yellowbirds
> 
> Mon autre by Juniore (this is kinda a weird recommendation but i love this song cause it makes me feel like a villain)
> 
> Thanks for the support so far on this fic!


	5. Five- Things Go South

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay y’all so this chapter was okay until I lost all motivation to write halfway through. So the second half of the chapter sucks. Don’t worry, though, the next one will probably be better (and we’ll have more Shoni content ofc)

~ 3 days later ~

As it turned out, Jeanette was just on a night off, and she had not moved to California to torture teens with bonding activities and icebreakers there. Damn it. 

The past 3 days had been actually kind of fun for Toni, which had nothing to do with the fact that Shelby was avoiding her 24/7. Well, it might have made her mood better. Just a tiny bit.

This morning, Toni was awoken by a loud alarm noise blaring throughout the hut. What was going on? She took a quick glance at the window, and the sun was barely starting to rise, which meant it was around 7. Why’d they been woken up so early? 

Her eyes reached the front of the hut, where Jeanette stood, phone in hand, playing an alarm noise that was far too loud for how early it was.

“Okay, good morning ladies! Today, we have a special team-building challenge for you all, and since it takes a while, you have to wake up a bit earlier. Breakfast is in 5 minutes!” And with that, Jeanette disappeared out the door.

The girls, to put it lightly, were not exactly jumping for joy over the newest development.

“I’m going to throw myself off of the fucking roof.” Rachel angrily walked to the bathroom. 

Toni strolled over to Martha’s bed. “God, you’d think they’d let us relax a bit. It’s supposed to be a luxury retreat. I don’t know how much more of this I can take before I use one of those tiki torches around the fire pit to burn this whole place down.”

Martha laughed. “Cmon, Toni. It’ll be fun, trust me.”

“Marty, I wish I had your optimism, but the only fun thing we’ve done so far is jumped off of a cliff into the water to avoid Jeanette. So unless ‘special team-building activity’ is a code for a smoke sesh with Dot, I don’t think it’s going to be ‘fun’.”

Dot yelled back from across the room. “Shalifoe, not happening. You owe me AT LEAST a hundred bucks by now. And that’s not counting the brownies that you stole yesterday.”

Fuck. She had thought Dot wouldn’t notice. “What brownies?”

Dot rolled her eyes and flipped her off. “I’m watching you from now on.”

“Aw, Dottie, you don’t have to do that.” Toni looked at her with pleading eyes. “When I become the WNBA’s leading forward, in like 5 years or so, I’ll invite you to my luxury penthouse in LA and pay you back, okay?”

Leah interrupted. “I don’t know that much about sports or stuff like that, but I think you might have to grow a bit for that, short stack.”

“What the hell! Why’s everyone teaming up on me? Cmon, Marty, help me out a bit!”

“Leah’s not wrong....”

“MARTY!”

And with that, Jeanette knocked on the door of the hut. “Ladies! Time to go!” Fuck. Toni hadn’t even gotten to brush her hair yet.

7 of the girls slowly made their way out of the cabin, complaining about the time. Fatin, on the other hand, remained near her bed, anxiously trying to get her phone to work.

“Hey Jeanette? Why isn’t there any service here? The retreat website said that this island has at least 3 bars of service, but I haven’t been able to reach my friends for days. They probably think I’m dead by now.”

Jeanette seemed thrown off by the question. “Well, maybe the website was wrong. There’s never been any service on this island. The point of the retreat is to ‘unplug’ and build deeper connections. But there’s no time to worry about your phone right now, we have to go to breakfast.”

Fatin mumbled a string of curses under her breath, but dropped her phone onto her bed and followed Jeanette out the door. 

The girls grabbed their meals and ate quickly, and then assembled on the beach to listen to Jeanette’s instructions. 

“This team-building exercise is much different than the ones that you’ve been doing over the last couple days. It’s more of a competition. You will be split into 2 teams of 4, and we’ll walk to the other side of the island, where you haven’t explored yet. Each team has to build a shelter using materials that they find in the forest, and the shelter must be big enough for your whole team to fit. The team with the sturdiest shelter by the time the sun sets will be the winner!”

Toni turned to Nora and whispered. “There’s no way in hell I’m doing this. Can’t we just have a beach day or something?”

Unfortunately, Jeanette heard her. “For those of you that are planning on not participating, there’s a catch. The team that loses the competition will have to spend the night in their shelter and fend for themselves, while the winning team gets to head back to the lodge hut.”

The girls exchanged glances as Jeanette took the lead of the group, and begrudgingly they set off for the far side of the island. 

By the time they reached the site of their shelter building competition, it was around noon. Jeanette quickly divided them into teams. Toni was with Martha, Nora, and, of course, Shelby. She briefly considered asking Jeanette if she could switch to the other team, but Martha was giving her a look, so she didn’t bother. 

The other team was much more equipped for the challenge, though. Dot had the most survival skills out of the group, and Rachel and Leah knew how to follow directions and work efficiently. Their only real weak spot was Fatin, who they’d decided could just add the finishing details to their shelter. 

Toni’s team started off on a bad note. She had figured she should take charge, because she knew how to build a simple lean-to. Her one foster brother had been a Boy Scout, and she had to help him build one for a badge. She also knew that Martha had no outdoor knowledge whatsoever, and Nora was currently doodling in that stupid journal, so she wouldn’t be much help. Shelby probably wouldn’t either. She seemed like one of those indoor princesses, and she probably had like 20 pillows on her bed that her poor maid had to place perfectly after she made her bed every morning. 

“So, what do y’all think? I think we should make a plan first, and then assign roles.” 

“Nah, just go with the flow. I’ll go get some wood for us to use.”

Shelby glared at her. “I really think that we should make some kind of a plan first, don’t you think-“

But Toni didn’t hear the rest of her sentence, as she was already disappearing into the woods with the axe that Jeanette had provided them with. 

She spent a long time gathering as much material as she could, something that would be sturdy enough to hold up a large shelter. She actually enjoyed being in the woods a lot. It was tranquil, and she could relax because there were no obnoxious southerners, just the occasional mosquito. She ran into Rachel gathering palm fronds, and took that as her cue to head back to the main area. She’d been at it for a while and they needed to start building the actual shelter.

When she returned, however, she found Nora building part of their shelter. It was most definitely not a lean to. “What are you doing?” Toni dropped her materials on the ground and ran over to the weirdly shaped hut.

“Oh, this was Shelby’s idea. She said it would be sturdy, but easy to build. Her and Martha are gathering palm leaves right now, for the roof.” Nora opened her journal and showed Toni a quick sketch of what the finished product would be.

“So I spent all that time for nothing?” Toni was getting madder by the minute, as she saw Martha and Shelby returning with the leaves in the distance.

Nora tried to console her. “I’m sure we could use these bamboo stalks somehow....I mean we might be able to...”

Toni didn’t listen. “Marty! Why are we building this?”

“Toni, if you’d have stayed long enough, then you could have helped us decide what we were going to build. It’s kinda your fault, I mean, you were the one who stormed off for no reason.”

“Are you kidding me right now? You’re defending her?” Toni approached Shelby with a murderous look in her eyes. “You always have to be the savior, don’t you. Always have to do things your way.”

Martha tried to divert Toni’s attention from a very scared Shelby. “Toni, she didn’t do anything. It was a group decision.”

“I’m so tired of this. Why do you always take her side?”

“Please, just listen to me-“

Martha didn’t even get a chance to finish her sentence before Toni ran up to the shelter and started destroying it. She ripped the leaves off the roof, knocked over the wood that had been holding it upright, and threw the now-useless materials behind her shoulder. Martha, Toni, and Shelby looked on in horror, 3 hours of hard work out the window.

Toni finally finished her little rampage and stormed off into the distance once more, leaving her teammates standing with the wreckage of their shelter.

Nora broke the silence. “Well, we can try to fix it, I guess.” She walked over and picked up some of the pieces of wood that hadn’t been completely destroyed. “It’s not that bad.”

Martha and Shelby quickly rushed to help her. “I seriously can’t believe she did that. She really needs to get over her ego, no offense.”

“Toni’s always been like that. She ruins things. One little spark and she lights everything in her path on fire. It happens all the time at home- she’s almost gotten kicked off of the basketball team 4 times because she can’t control her emotions.”

“Maybe she should try therapy.” Nora offered.

By the time Shelby, Nora, and Martha had fixed most of the small shelter, the sun was beginning to set on the horizon. Toni was sitting on a rock on the other side of the beach. She hadn’t helped, or apologized for that matter. 

A horn sounded, and Jeanette emerged from a trail, summoning both teams over to her. “The competition is officially over!” The girls looked around at each other’s shelters, and it was pretty obvious who the winners would be. Dot, Leah, Rachel, and Fatin had made a pretty big hut, with grasses for the roof. It even had a furnished entrance, courtesy of Fatin. By contrast, the other hut looked like it had been built by a group of elementary school boys.

Jeanette thoroughly inspected each shelter, and brought the girls together for the verdict. “Leah, Rachel, Dot, and Fatin! Congrats, you guys are the winners of this competition. You’ll be allowed to walk with the back to the lodge and bonfire area. The rest of you, good luck! I’ll be back in the morning to lead you back, but until then, you’ll have to fend for yourselves.”

The winning team left with Jeanette, leaving the losers in their poorly constructed shelter.

It was going to be a long night for Toni.

________________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay also I promise that I won’t be using that many scenes from the actual show, I just included this one to move the plot forward a bit.
> 
> Today’s song recs-
> 
> Mariposa by Del Water Gap and Kyoto by Phoebe Bridgers (though I’m sure mostly everyone reading this has listened to Phoebe Bridgers, but whatever)

**Author's Note:**

> I’ll try to update pretty regularly! I’ll also do song recommendations at the end of each chapter.


End file.
